


Leaving Me To Doubt

by SoloSoso (MantisandtheMoonDragon)



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Alexithymia, Badass Charlie, Bisexual Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Emotionally Repressed, F/M, Friendship/Love, Implied Sexual Abuse, Minimal editing, Not Canon Compliant, Physical Abuse, Platonic Sex, Rare Pairings, Self-Esteem Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Valentino - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:15:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MantisandtheMoonDragon/pseuds/SoloSoso
Summary: In which Angel Dust develops a newfound appreciation, and subsequent infatuation with Charlie, but has trouble saying 'thank you'.
Relationships: Angel Dust & Charlie Magne, Angel Dust/Charlie Magne
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	Leaving Me To Doubt

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something where Angel Dust struggles to show he cares in conventional or healthy ways, as I find that an interesting layer to his character because he obviously struggles with showing his redemptive qualities. I like both him and Charlie as characters, and I hope they form a sweet friendship in the canon show. 
> 
> Comments are moderated, but I appreciate those who R&R, and give it a chance as a sort of experimental outlier. I also want to establish that the characters aren't meant to to represent any oversimplification of any particular group, like sex workers or the LGBT+ community. It's not my intention to offend anyone, although the show itself does lend itself to offensive material as part of its appeal. It's just a fanfic.

Angel Dust had thought little of Hell’s princess throughout his induction into the formerly named ‘Happy Hotel’. Her perky, childlike personality was worthy of more than a few eyerolls, and her attempts at connecting with him only made Angel Dust draw away in disgust. The spider knew that for all of her cheesy goodwill, Charlie was about as authentic as a woman moaning for more during a violent gangbang. 

* * *

He came to terms with the reality that he didn’t know a fucking thing when Charlie had laid her life on the line for him. Literally. 

It started with an argument, and became something much worse. Explosive, but without the added benefit of Sir Pentious and his incompetence. Angel Dust had been making his way to the exit, not really thinking about what he was leaving behind and whether or not his material goods would be thrown out in his wake. 

Charlie had blocked the spider demon before he reached the end of the staircase with Vaggie on her heels. In the end, it was more of the latter yelling at him for being so callous and self-absorbed, with Charlie on the sidelines, staring at him with glassy eyes and upturned brows. 

“You’re the most inconsiderate, selfish asshole in the nine circles of Hell!” Vaggie spat. 

Angel managed to get past her with a wave of his hand(s), trying to ignore the nonstop buzzing of his phone. There was nothing in defending himself. Angel wasn’t going to give these broads anything that could help them sink their teeth into his actual flesh. There wasn’t time. 

He did freeze immediately upon seeing the exit open up as Valentino had forced his way inside. 

The moth overlord’s lips had curled back into a disgusting snarl, and he seemed to hone in on Angel Dust like a hunter. His towering figure moved with homicidal fury that bled into the very atmosphere, characterizing even the billow of his long, luxurious overcoat with wrath. 

Angel Dust assumed the position, blind and deaf to everything else, including the spark of recognition in Charlie’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine what he was in for, but Angel would not have been more terrified if he were face to face with an exterminator. 

“You have **no idea** what you’ve cost me.” Valentino was hissing. “And making me come all this way to get you, _like_ _a child_.” 

His arm was outstretched, ready to strike. “I thought you knew better by now, _sweetheart._ ” 

The hand came down, and Angel Dust’s eyes squeezed shut as he waited, unable to refrain from shaking. The anticipation before the hit was almost worse than the impact itself, with all the muscles in Angel’s body seizing painfully.

“ **_Excuse me_ **.” 

Eyes still closed, skin stretched tight over the stiffened muscles, Angel heard the voice of the heir to the throne loud and clear. Peeking out from behind his fingers, Angel could see Charlie as a swath of white and black and blonde. She was standing in front of him, shoulders back and arms slightly raised as though she were preparing to spread them out wide while shielding her one and only tenant. 

Charlie continued. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you’re not welcome here.” 

* * *

The depth of her feelings shown later on, after the chaos and the clean up. It didn’t end with Angel being beaten and dragged out onto the curb, but Angel felt as if he lacked any control over his body as he was guided away from the fallout. The hotel was eerily quiet, though he could hear the faint buzzing of radio static and the swish of a damp mop on the ground before the door to Charlie’s office closed behind him. 

“I can give you amnesty. Protection.” Charlie had never looked more serious while she took Angel’s hands in hers. “You don’t have to stay in the hotel. There are more discreet places, even in Hell.” 

Her horns were receding slowly, and the violent red of her scelera was fading into a softer pink, while the cut on her forehead and the bruises on her cheeks and temple started to darken. A lump had formed in her counterpart’s throat, as he realized the implications of her words.

She was willing to throw away her ambitions, or at least thwart them for an indeterminable amount of time - until she found some other demon open to reform - for his sake. Angel Dust mattered more in this case, as her friend. 

Angel didn’t believe he was in love with the demoness, but what he felt for her then rivaled any artificial highs he could recall. 

* * *

He’d responded quickly, letting her know that he wanted nothing more than to stay in the Hazbin Hotel now that it was his undeniable haven. But self-loathing threatened to consume Angel when it came time to even attempt a ‘thank you’. Fat Nuggets had been a patient audience to bounce ideas off of, and a comfort when tears threatened to spill from the adult film star’s mismatched eyes, and eventually Angel came to terms with what he had to offer. 

There were no hurt feelings when he met with the princess in her office, and his questions were met with wide-eyed silence. 

“I…” Charlie’s mouth twisted somewhat as she thought. “I’ll think about it, okay?” 

Angel felt a small swell of hope, and mirrored the tentative smile on his hotelier’s face and easily accepted her answer. The spider demon reminded himself once again that it wasn’t a big deal if Charlie didn’t want to take him up on his offer, and that there were other ways of showing his gratitude. That she was even considering his proposal was surprising, if Angel was being completely honest with himself. 

Yet when he was walking down the hall and back to his room, Angel felt the smile slowly fall away as he imagined the probable rejection coming. He’d only prolonged the inevitable, and knowing that deep down inside made him want to wrap all of his arms around himself and sink into a sullen mood. 

_‘You can’t thank her enough for what she did, if she doesn’t want you.’_ Angel looked at the carpet beneath his feet. _‘You’ve got no talent in anything else. Nothing else is gonna top that.’_

With those thoughts following him all the way to his room, Angel’s ego took a few hits; enough to cancel out Charlie’s indulgence. 

* * *

Charlie had knocked on his door so softly that it almost went unheard. Angel had had to smile at how she had undoubtedly planned for the occasion. Of course she knew where his room was - her hotel after all - but she came in the middle of the night, when Angel was at his most energized. 

Seeing her in the doorway, hands clasped together and looking up at him shyly, actually set butterflies in Angel’s stomach. His first impression of her had been pummeled into the ground and destroyed upon her defending him from his greatest threat, but her softness here and now made that impression disappear completely. 

Charlie’s lips quirked into a small, lopsided smile as she took his hand and was led inside. 

\- 

“Oh, Angel!” 

He pressed his lips against her skin, mouth just slightly ajar to gently brush her with his tongue. She tasted clean and untainted, with a hint of scented lotion. Her breathless cry of his name made his heart lurch in his ribcage, as Angel distantly noted the novelty of it. 

His profession required a lot of exaggerated expressions and vocalizations of ecstasy, exertion and expletives (depending on what kind of audience he was appealing to). It was almost unheard of, however, to have a partner at work call him by name in the middle of sex - which hardly mattered as Angel Dust was already well-known in the industry, and he understood that a bit of illusion and anonymity was required when it came to creating fantasies. 

It had been so long since anyone had actually called for him by name, as it had been quite a long time since Angel had fucked for pleasure. Hearing it now from Charlie, responding to his movements with so much sincerity, touched the ex-porn star in a way that he’d been barred from for such a long time. 

An electric current went straight to his heart and another shot down to his pelvis, propelling Angel Dust to pump harder. He braced the slim hips of his partner down, sunk into her to the hilt and leaned down to kiss her deeply. Charlie didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him in, moaning desperately into his mouth at the mix of painful pleasure that came with a tap at her cervix. 

The afterglow was short-lived when Angel’s thoughts set back in motion. Ifs and Whys plagued him, even as Charlie lay wrapped around his lanky frame, nuzzling her cheek against the fluff of his chest. He hated knowing, deep down, that this gesture was cheap. That he couldn’t communicate how much what she did meant to him like he should. 

Eventually, Charlie pulled back to look at him, perhaps to ask how he was and if he was alright, or to ask him why this was his preferred method of caring. Angel Dust swallowed audibly. 

“I just wanted ta...” Angel blurted. “... ta show ya how much I appreciated... everything.”

Charlie smiled, gentle and soft as she lingered along the spider demon’s features with her fingertips. She kissed him lazily, and laughed as, after a few moments, he pulled her back in and gently guided her to rest her head against his chest. 


End file.
